TOKYO -- ShowBiz Pizza Time Inc., the operators of the Chuck E Cheese restaurant chain, plan to open a restaurant chain in Japan starting in 1999, a Japanese financial daily reported. The restaurants will offer amusement arcade games to go along with the food samplings, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported. The first outlet is expected to open in early 1999 after a local franchisee is selected from among Japanese restaurant operators, retailers and trading companies, the paper said citing company sources. ShowBiz Pizza is headquartered in Texas and operates 312 Chuck E. Cheese pizza parlors in the U.S.

Copyright February 1998, Crain Communications Inc.